Brittany Murphy was warned several times before her death about husband Simon Monjack’s alleged fraudulent activities, but she reportedly refused to listen.
Monjack vehemently denied his detractors’ numerous allegations, however, telling London’s Daily Mail that he’s been a target ever since he met Murphy at a party three years ago before marrying her in May 2007.
“My problem is that I do not look like Ashton Kutcher,” Monjack told the newspaper, referring to Murphy’s ex boyfriend. “Nor do they [the Hollywood elite] like the fact that she [Murphy] married someone who was not famous. Here, stars like stars to marry other stars.”
But “Factory Girl” director George Hickenlooper, who was friends with Murphy and almost cast her in the role of Edie Sedgwick instead of Sienna Miller, had more specific problems with Monjack. He said he asked Murphy to seriously consider her relationship with the British screenwriter.
“The last thing I told Brittany is: “Do you know this guy? I mean do you really know him? Do you know what you are doing by marrying him?” ‘ Hickenlooper wrote in a comment on a Hollywood Eslewhere post about the couple. “At this point, Brittany became angry and told me she knew Monjack better than anyone and then hung up on me. A few months later I tried to phone her to see if she was alright and Monjack would not let me speak to her.”
Hickenlooper also wrote that Monjack’s IMDB story credit on “Factory Girl” is a lie.
“Simon Monjack had nothing to do with Factory Girl,” he wrote following Murphy’s death. “He filed a frivolous lawsuit against us. . . making bogus claims that we had stolen his script. He held us literally to hostage and we were forced to settle with him as he held our production over a barrel.”
Hickenlooper goes on to say he posted this information on IMDB two years ago as a warning against Monjack, who he says was using the credit to solicit money from investors. But he said he took down his allegations after a plea from Murphy herself.
Monjack refuted the director’s claims in an interview with London’s Daily Mail, claiming that he never even met Hickenlooper.
“I wanted to make ‘Factory Girl’ many years ago,’ Mojack told the British tabloid. “What is being said is not true. I guess everyone deals with their grief in a different way — his is expressing his anger.”
Since Murphy’s death, other reports have surfaced about credit card fraud, debts and visa violations surrounding Monjack. The Hollywood Reporter also claimed that Monjack turned up on set of one of Murphy’s recent films drunk. When producers told her to send him away, she reportedly refused and was fired, the trade publication reported.
“I spoke to two other movie producers who came into contact with him on a project in the last couple of years,’ the reporter told the Mail.”They described him as a “conman.” Neither had anything nice to say.”
The Mail reports that the day before Murphy died, the actress watched movies in bed with Monjack as they ate Thai takeout.
“Brittany was tired and a little sad because she was sick,” Monjack said.
He says his wife was taking herbal remedies for a heart murmur and that many of the prescriptions found on her bedside table were old. Monjack vehemently denied rumors that his late wife had a drug problem.
“I know what the inference is by all those pills,’ he told the Mail. “That she was some kind of addict, but addicts hide away their pills. They do not leave them on the nightstand like Brittany.”
The 32-year-old actress best known for her performance in ‘Clueless,” died Dec. 20 after suffering a heart attack in her LA home. Coroners suggested her death was a result of natural causes, but are currently awaiting the results of the actress’ toxicology tests.
source: nydailynews.com